Arscenic, Blarney, Wildhorse Window, Moonshine, Colonnade, A Secret

Christian

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Thursday, March 23rd, 2017, my coworker Tyler and I took the last two days of the work week off and headed down to North Wash for some quick and easy canyons. The weather was insane the whole way down until about 30 miles south of Hanksville, where it cleared up. The forecast was a pattern of one day overcast and stormy then the next cloudless and sunny, and it was spot on. So the stormy days were spent above ground and the clear days in the canyons.

The inclement weather slowed down our travel and we wasted all of Thursday just getting down to North Wash. We set up camp in the last half hour of the day at the trailhead for Arscenic canyon.

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We awoke very early to a perfectly sunny and clear morning, with no clouds forecasted all day. It was time to run some canyons.

Arscenic is a pretty casual canyon, it only has the one 200ft multi-stage rappel at the beginning, you leave the rope, and the rest of the canyon is full of easy down climbs.

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^Tyler at the end of the first and only rappel in Arscenic

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^ Great layering in Arscenic

On the way out, we passed Arsenic Arch, which was cool to see, but I don't have any pictures. We then hurried over to the Blarney canyon trailhead and made a quick run of the left fork of Blarney. I did the right fork 2 years ago so now I can say that I've completed that canyon system. I found Blarney left to be almost too easy, kind of forgettable.

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^ A neat chamber in Blarney Left fork

We then drove up to a campsite by the swell, and on Saturday morning Tyler's wife came to pick him up.

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The remaining part of the weekend was for me to wander around alone. First, I went and quickly explored wild horse window.

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Next, I decided to check out a random little place I'd seen on google earth to see if it was interesting. I doubt very many people have gone here because there were no footprints and it's behind a fence. It wasn't the most amazing place ever but it was fun to see what an area that looked interesting from aerial imagery was like up close:

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^I suppose it would be good way to stump everyone on the guess the spot thread.

Next, I drove to Green River got some food, and headed down into the San Rafael Desert area west of the Green River. As I approached the trailhead for Colonnade Arch, the weather turned crazy and there were lightning bolts hitting with the sound coming at the exact same time.
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^ What the slick rock area at the trailhead for Colonnade looked like after a brief but very heavy rain. I decided to sleep in my truck rather than try to set up a tent on soaking wet ground.

I woke up before sunrise and headed to Colonnade. I couldn't find those awesome dragon teeth, but that gives me a reason to head back another time.

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After Colonnade, I made a quick run through the narrow part of Moonshine Canyon

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After that, I headed home.

Also, here is a one minute video of odds and ends from the outing.
Enjoy.
 
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Good tour. Looks like you got some of the classics.

Pictures of the "Dragon's Teeth" are way cooler than they actually are. You didn't miss much.
 
Awesome greatest hits tour and photographs! How do you sleep in that little truck? :)
 
Awesome greatest hits tour and photographs! How do you sleep in that little truck? :)
If I open the tailgate, I can sleep in the bed, but on this trip I just lean the seat back and park on an upslope somewhere, and I sleep fine. Being tired from hiking helps.

Thanks for the nice comments, good to hear from you, Dan and Art.
 

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